The Value of 'Noise and Confusion'

Unfortunately, one of the main criteria by which you are judged as a
teacher is your ability to keep "order" in the classroom--quiet; neat
rows of seated students; one person speaking at a time after being
recognized; and so on.

Perhaps it's the pressure for classrooms like this that caused a
big-city principal visiting another school to comment, "This must be a
really good school. You'd never know there were any kids here."

As a longtime teacher of grades 5 through 11, but mostly grades 7
and 8, I agree that order is far better than chaos. And you should be
able to control the behavior of your pupils. But an excessive emphasis
on order stifles minds and increases the potential for boredom as
students proceed through school.

The effect of overstrict teachers is described by Michael K.
Marshall, principal of the Mather School in Dorchester, Mass., in his
book Law and Order in Grade 6-E. He compares children in schools to
beings in "tidal pools near the ocean, in which a marvelous and
colorful variety of marine life flourishes--crabs, underwater flowers,
and so forth--when the water is calm. ... The effect of the strict
disciplinarian on kids [is] ... similar to the effect of the incoming
tide on these pools: The flowers close up tight, the crabs run into
cracks and caves, and everything becomes still and colorless as the
waves pound overhead."

In fact, some kinds of noise and confusion are valuable in the
classroom:

The miscellaneous, sometimes vigorous buzz of students in small
groups talking over and even laughing about a question that interests
them.

Such questions, for example, might be: "Is it ever O.K. to tell a
lie?" or "What would happen in this room if the force of gravity were
decreased by three-fourths?"

If the classroom door is open (I generally favor keeping it closed)
and the principal passes by, he may notice what sounds like noise and
disorder but really is good education in process.

The sudden, loud reactions to a stimulating idea that you or a
student has expressed during a discussion or recitation.

For example, a student says, "I think we should abolish teaching
grammar in this school, with all those workbooks, and just write good
stuff." At this point, you should let the vociferous one-on-one--or
four-on-four--continue for a minute or two, even though it's
"disorderly." These moments are highly educational: Kids are thinking
and reacting--trying to express their convictions and hear those of
others.

But when the exchanges have continued for a brief time, you should
call the class back to order. And the best way to do that is not to try
to shout over the buzz, but rather to say once loudly, not fiercely,
''Class!"

Even better is to have an old-fashioned classroom bell on your desk
and to ting-ting it strongly. Its high sound can be heard over the
loudest discussion, and students should understand that this signal
means, "Quiet now." It's a friendly, easy way of establishing
order.

When silence is restored, you can call on a student to initiate a
more orderly, "hands raised" discussion.

The open, noisy conversation that you may wish to license when you
sense from students' eagerness that a tightly controlled discussion is
dampening rather than stimulating to learning.

In a situation like this, you might try saying, "O.K., this is a
pretty interesting question. I'm going to declare a five-minute period
of free talk when you can all exchange ideas. Then we'll see whether
you've come up with some ideas or answers that are worth reporting to
the whole class. Talk freely, but don't shout."

This is a bit like a tactic used by Abraham Lincoln, who wasn't
exactly a loose, undisciplined man. In 1832, during the Black Hawk War,
Lincoln, then a 23-year-old captain of the Bushtail Rangers, was in
command of a platoon marching across the country. He was rather
ignorant about matters of drill, tactics, and formations, and when his
soldiers came to a fence, he had no idea of the proper military way to
deal with the situation. So he commanded, "Halt! Company dismissed for
two minutes. At the end of that time, reassemble on the other side of
the fence."

The confusion that sometimes results when the idea in the teacher's
head is expanded brilliantly by a student but the elaboration doesn't
match the lesson plan.

An example occurred in a 3rd-grade classroom. The teacher asked,
"Who can tell us what numbers between 1 and 10 can be divided by
2?"

An eager girl raised her hand and answered, "Seven!"

"Emily," said the teacher, frowning, "you know better than that. How
can 7 be divided by 2?"

"It's easy," replied Emily. "Seven divided by 2 is 3-."

There was a murmur of approval in the class, but the teacher, I'm
sad to report, replied, "All right, Emily, if you're going to be smart,
you can just leave the room."

Remember that the truth, even in 3rd grade, is too large to be
entirely contained in one teacher's head. How much better it would have
been if the teacher had responded, "Why, Emily, that's great! I hadn't
thought of that," and then gone on to let other pupils think of
similar, non-prime numbers before explaining that the question should
have been better put--"... can be divided by 2 and have the answer come
out even?" We need bright students like Emily.

I don't want to leave the impression that I favor noise and
confusion in general--only when they're a part of the process of
education, of developing reading, writing, reckoning, and
reasoning.

A letter and response in Ann Landers's newspaper column offer an
example of order properly required and enforced. Though directly
concerned with life in the home, the advice also applies to work in
schools:

"Dear Ann Landers: I am 15 years old and my biggest problem is my
mother. All she does is nag, nag, nag. From morning till night. It is:
Turn off the TV. Do your homework. Wash your neck. Stand up straight.
Go clean up your room. How can I get her off my case? Pick, Pick,
Pick."

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